Arc Troopers: The 16 Levels
by Torrow
Summary: It was finally time. After his entire life spent in dreary training facilities, and countless hours spent in the simulators, Flash was finally getting out of here. He was going become a Clone Trooper.


**A/N**

 **This story follows a Clone Trooper cadet named Flash who goes through intense Arc Trooper training. It is co-written by me and a friend who doesn't use fanfiction.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **~Torrow**

 **Prologue:**

It was finally time. After his entire life spent in dreary training facilities, and countless hours spent in the simulators, Flash was finally getting out of here. He was going become a Clone Trooper. He stood, anxiously waiting as the trainer called the serial number of each clone that had graduated.

"CT-739"

"CT-766"

"CT-889"

"And uh… CT-554" He finished at last.

"Congratulations. You've all graduated." Said the trainer.

Flash did a double take.

"You are now the single force that stands between the Separatist Army and domination. You should be proud to call yourself a Clone Trooper, and to fight against the oppressive forces of the CIS with your brothers by your side. " The trainer said in a bored voice. He'd repeated this spiel a hundred times.

"Now, report to deck A in preparation for loading." He said.

Flash's fellow classmates filed out of the room, but Flash did not move. A sinking feeling overcame him. They hadn't called his number. Flash moved toward the trainer, who was busy filling something out on a datapad.

He stood a few feet away, but the trainer didn't look up.

Flash cleared his throat. "Sir?"

He glanced up. "Is there a problem, soldier?'

"Yeah, actually. You didn't call my number." Flash said accusingly.

"That's right." He said, going back to his datapad.

Flash was practically shaking with anger at the infuriating behavior of the man.

"Why not? _Sir_?" He added, throwing as much sarcasm into the word as he could.

For years Flash had to be on his best behavior around this bounty hunter, even though he hated him. Because one wrong move, and he could flunk you. He lived for the pleasure of telling a good soldier that he would never leave this planet. Now though, Flash had no reason to keep up the charade of respect.

The trainer smiled in response. "What do _you_ think, Flash?"

Flash was silent.

The trainer put down his datapad and leaned forward. "You didn't graduate."

Flash couldn't believe it, after all these years he was just being flunked? No!

"But that's impossible! I completed the final test, didn't I? I was the best in the simulators for a whole month!" Flash exclaimed angrily, with a note of fear in his voice. The trainer sighed. "Well, as much as I wish that was the end of it, there's more."

This peaked Flash's interest.

"You're not graduating. But I have orders to tell you to report to C deck at 0800 for specialized training. For the life of me I can't understand why, but for some reason the Kaminoans have taken a liking to you." He said.

"Congratulations Flash, you're going to be an Arc Trooper."

Flash's mouth had dropped open by the time the trainer had finished talking. But then he shook his head and closed it.

"This is a trick. I'll get up there and it will be training for janitorial duty," Flash said certainly. He was furious at himself for believing even for a second that the man could be telling the truth.

The trainer chuckled.

"I wish. Unfortunately I'm telling the truth," He said, grabbing his dura-case, "Now, I've followed my orders by telling you. You can either choose to believe me or not. But if I were you, I'd go."

He grinned crookedly. "I hear they're not very _forgiving_ of latecomers..." He laughed at Flash and walked out of the room.

Flash was confused. Could it be true? He wanted to believe it so badly, but that made him even more skeptical. It was one in a million chance of being chosen for Arc Trooper training. It has to be a trick, he decided. Well if it was, he wasn't going to play the bounty hunter's game. If they were gonna flunk him, he wasn't going to just march up there like a good little janitor. If they were gonna flunk him, after all he'd been through, he wasn't going to follow their orders anymore. "Arc Trooper training, my a*s." Flash said disgustedly.

Just as he decided he was going back to his barracks, the noticed the datapad laying neatly on the desk. The trainer had obviously forgotten it. Flash walked over to it and picked it up.

 _It couldn't hurt to make sure,_ He thought. He looked down at the screen to see an official looking Republic stamp at the bottom, and a brief but to-the-point letter. It read:

"Trooper:

CT-3922

To report to C deck in the Advanced Training Facility at 0800 hours.

Subject has been chosen for experimental: "Arc Trooper" training program.

Inform immediately."

Flash dropped the datapad and it crashed to the floor, but he hardly noticed. He couldn't believe it! The bounty hunter scum had been telling the truth for once in his life! He walked over to the window overlooking the training arena of clone cadets. He observed them fighting practice droids for a while, without really seeing them. His head was filled with a million thoughts at once, but one kept dominating all the others.

" _Me_ , an Arc Trooper..." Flash whispered.

 **(Friend's part starts here)**

"5 minutes left cadets, make haste," came the booming voice of the announcer over the intercom.

Cadet CT-2476, or Mavrick, was with a squad of his other 3 'squadmates' who he despised. They always left him out of activities and treated him as the enemy the clones were bred to fight against.

His squad had left him behind to deal with the fake Super Droids and they were giving him a hard time. What he didn't know was that the droids were set on such an extremely hard level, that most clones would've been knocked out two minutes in. But Mavrick was different. He rolled to cover and blasted the droid in the eyes, disabling it completely.

Then, he pulled a stunt where he threw a grenade and shot it in midair, destroying the other three droids. As he was catching up to his team, one of them grinned with a type of mad happiness, and shot Mavrick in the chest.

Even though the blaster bolt was fake, he felt the pain as he collapsed to the ground. The simulation suddenly ended as a medic team took Mavrick to the infirmary. Mavrick told those bounty hunter scum that it was a team member who shot him, but they didn't believe a single word he said. Mavrick left the med a few hours later, extremely agitated. Suddenly he was pulled aside by one of the trainers. Mavrick restrained himself from cursing the trainer out as he talked to him.

"Mavrick, the Kaminoians told me that you have been," he said these last words cringing, as if saying this was causing him great physical pain.

"Selected for ARC training," The bounty hunter said, looking depressed. "Congratulations, hope you fail," he said, snickering as he left Mavrick alone. Mavrick was still in shock by the words the trainer said to him.

" _ARC training_ ," Mavrick thought, " _That's the best of the best. Me of all those other clones made it... to ARC training._ "

 **Level 1: Part 1 - Welcome to Training**

Flash had arrived at the Advanced Training Facility, and was already in awe. The place was _huge_ , and impossibly seemed even more state-of-the-art than the facilities he grew up in. He walked through the sleek, white halls towards deck C. But as he walked, he began to get an uneasy feeling. He instinctively turned to his left and was met with chills up and down his spine. It was the Kaminoans...

They were watching him through the nearly invisible windows. They made no sound or movement; they just stared with interest.

Flash moved in a slow circle to see all the Kaminoans had stopped what they were doing to gaze at him. Flash met the big, black, glossy eyes of one of them, and he tried to convey something, anything, to them. It was rare for a clone to meet his creators. But after a minute or two of this with no change Flash decided to give up and move on. **  
**

"Creepy bastards," He muttered.

He walked determinedly down the hall, not looking at the Kaminoans on either side of him who he knew were still watching. He didn't stop until he got to a single door at the end, with a clone guard stationed outside of it.

"Serial number?" The guard asked in a robotic-like voice.

"CT-3922," Flash stated with a touch of pride.

After a moment the guard responded with, "Alright you're cleared." He evidently had some sort of software in his helmet.

Flash started forward but the door still hadn't opened. The guard was looking at him.

"What's so special about you?" He asked in a slow, bitter voice.

Flash was silent for a moment, before he smiled. "I guess I just got lucky."

The guard responded by punching the button to open the door with more force than was needed. It began to open and Flash stepped forward again, but the guard grabbed his arm before he could go through.

He leaned forward and whispered, "You keep laughin Shiny, because they've brought up so many bodies from down there I've lost count."

The guard let go as Flash jerked his arm away. Flash stepped into the room beyond, and the door sealed shut behind him. Inside, there was a group of 5 clones in the middle of the room. Some leaned against the wall with their arms folded, others chose to stand, impatiently, in the middle of the room. In front of them all was what could only be described as, an Arc Trooper. He stood with absolute superiority, boasting his fancy "phase 2" armor set, which made him seem much larger than the others. His arms were folded, and although in most helmets you could make out the trooper's eyes inside, his were completely hidden. Flash walked forward and joined the group.

"Glad you could join us," the Arc said sarcastically.

Since the Arc had not jumped into action after Flash arrived, he realized they must be waiting on somebody else, for which he was glad about. He didn't want to be the last to arrive on his first day.

After a few minutes everyone turned to the door as a clone ran inside, panting.

"Trooper, explain yourself!" The Arc demanded in a rough voice.

"I'm sorry sir- I…" his eyes widened as he saw who he was talking to. "You're uh… uh.. uh-" He stammered.

"An Arc Trooper. Damn right I am and it's looking like you won't be! Why are you so late?" He yelled.

"I'm sorry sir I… Got lost." He said sheepishly.

A few troopers laughed.

The Arc stepped forward. "If you can't be in time for this, how are you going to be on a mission? You're a few minutes late to break in and your whole squad gets destroyed!"

"I'm sorry sir. It won't happen again!" The clone exclaimed, but it was hopeless.

"Yeah, I know it won't." The Arc said, as he walked away from him. He turned back around once he got to his original spot, and pointed at the door. "Leave, and don't come back," he ordered calmly.

The other cadets were shocked that the poor clone was being disqualified because of something so mundane, but they knew one thing: They would never be late again.

The trooper seemed equally stunned, and his face went pale as a ghost.

"But-but sir," he started.

"Get out!" The Arc shouted.

The trooper looked completely devastated and he slowly turned his back on them forever, trudging out the doorway as it closed behind him. Once he was gone, the Arc turned back to the startled group.

"I'm Arc Trooper Havoc," he said, "And you're all here because you have some sort of talent. But as far as I'm concerned that means _nothing_ unless you can follow orders. So I'm only going to ask this once: Can you follow my orders completely, and without hesitation?"

"Sir yes sir!" The group rushed to respond.

"Good. With any luck, you sorry bunch might just survive this hellhole," he said roughly. "You! Step forward!" He said, pointing at Flash.

Flash was startled. Had he done something wrong? He nervously walked up to Havoc.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Flash. Sir," He responded.

"Wrong!" He yelled in his face. Flash turned his head to the side.

"All of you are numbers!" Havoc said, looking around at the men.

"You haven't _earned_ your names yet. You earn them by becoming an Arc Trooper. And to do that, you need to complete 16 levels of training. You'll start at level 1 today, and then move onto level 2 tomorrow. Each test will be harder than the last. I don't expect any of you sorry bunch to get past level 4."

It was silent for a moment, before a trooper said aloud what everyone was thinking.

"Excuse me sir, but...I don't see any training arenas."

He was right, Flash had noticed it immediately. The room was small, and windowless, unlike the usual introductions that were handled in a control room overlooking an arena.

"Well, you wouldn't. Because you should be looking," Havoc pointed at the floor, "down."

Flash looked at him.

"But there's nothing under Tipoca City except ocean," the trooper responded quickly.

"That's where you're wrong. The Kaminoans built facilities _under_ the sea some time ago when they realized they were running out of room on the surface." Havoc responded.

"But… how is that possible?" The trooper asked.

"Don't ask me, I'm not an engineer," Havoc answered, getting annoyed. "But enough talk. Follow me." He ordered.

Havoc walked towards an elevator at the end of the room. He punched in a code and the black doors slid open for entry. Without a word Havoc stepped inside, and the rest of the troopers filed in after him. Flash saw that there were many numbered buttons inside the elevator, and the Arc Trooper seemed to know exactly which ones to push. The doors slid shut and without warning the elevator shot downwards at record speed. Most of the recruits looked for something to grab onto, including Flash, who quickly grabbed onto a metal bar.

But Havoc was completely relaxed, as though he'd done this a 100 times. Soon it began to feel colder inside the shaft, and Flash shivered. _We must be in the sea now,_ he reasoned. Suddenly the elevator began to slow and finally came to a stop. The doors slid open to reveal a dark, gloomy hallway that had several doors on either side of it. Havoc immediately made a move out of the elevator and marched towards an entryway at the end of the hall. He didn't need to say anything, the rest of the group followed closely behind him. As he made his way down the hallway Havoc pointed to a door on the left.

"Those are your barracks," he said simply. "Go gear up, I want you back here in 10." He ordered.

The group obeyed immediately and headed toward the door as Havoc continued on. A trooper went up to a datapad and tried to put his hand on it, but it didn't work. The light blinked red and the door didn't open. He looked up.

"It needs a code," he announced.

Everyone was confused. Havoc hadn't given them any sort of code… Had he?

"He flunks that one guy for being late, but he forgets to give _us_ the code! Wow!" Someone said.

But Flash wasn't listening, he was thinking hard. Somehow he knew the Arc Veteran hadn't just _forgotten_. He had left it for them before he had went ahead.

The others seemed to have the same idea.

"Try 16!" Someone yelled.

"No, try the numbers 1-16 in order!" Someone else shouted positively.

"Neither works," the guy at the datapad said.

"If we're not ready in 10 minutes Havoc is gonna flunk us all!" Someone said in a panicked voice.

Flash pushed past some clones to get to the front of the group. Here, he could get a better look at the datapad. The first thing he noticed was that the code didn't require letters or symbols, just numbers.

 _Just numbers_ … Flash thought.

Then it hit him.

"Hey!" Flash said. The cadets stopped talking over each other to look at him.

"Remember what the old bantha said about us being just numbers?" Flash said excitedly.

"Hard to forget," said someone.

"Well, maybe…" Flash moved towards the datapad. He was sure he was right. He turned around and pointed at the nearest cadet.

"What's your serial number?"

"Uh…" He started, about to say something else, but then his eyes widened when he realized what Flash meant.

"CT-7977!" He said quickly.

Flash quickly inputted "7977" into the pad.

He whirled around.

"What's yours?" He asked the next trooper.

"CT-2476" He said roughly.

Flash turned back and entered the number.

"Next!" He yelled without looking up.

"CT-2315!"

"CT-3463!"

"CT-2495!"

And finally, Flash inputted his number, "CT-3922." With a shaking finger he pushed "enter".

A few agonizing seconds went by and nothing happened, but suddenly a green light appeared and the door opened. The group cheered, and one or two patted him on the back. But the celebration was short lived and they quickly made their way inside to gear up. The barracks were standard except for one blaring difference.

Beds!

In basic training there were so many clones that it would be impractical to have a bed for everyone. Instead, each clone was squeezed into a hibernation chamber. Flash was looking forward to sleeping in one of these, but it would have to wait until later. He approached a bunk bed that had his CT number on it and opened his footlocker. Inside he found basic training armor, which he put on as quickly as possible. It was uncomfortable as always, but it didn't matter. He just had to complete the test.

Flash chose a standard DC-15 training blaster, tucked his helmet under his other arm, then closed the lid with his foot. He ran out of the doorway where a few others were already waiting in the hallway. The stragglers inside quickly filed out behind him, just as Arc Trooper Havoc came out of the room at the far end of the hallway.

"Good. You all made it," he said simply. "Now follow me, training is about to begin."

 **Level 1: Part 2 - The Battle**

The group followed Havoc as he unlocked a door to the right and stepped inside. It was a small room with a single round platform in the middle of it. A security droid stood, and its head turned to look at the group.

"Form up," said Havoc.

The group formed into a line and stood at attention. The droid moved forward and stopped at Flash

"Do not move," it said in a robotic voice.

"I won't if you won't," Flash responded.

Suddenly there was a blinding blue light and Flash squeezed his eyes shut. After a second Flash felt the light move down and he opened them. He looked down to see that the droid was doing a full body scan on him. After a moment the blue light shut off and the droid said, "clear." It then moved onto the next trooper in line and did the same.

Havoc spoke up. "This young fella is scanning you for extra contraband. If you bring anything into the arena that's not standard issued gear, you will be disqualified. So don't get any ideas."

The droid reached the end of the line and the blue light shut off. It moved away and addressed the Arc Trooper.

"No excess items detected," It reported.

"Alright get out," Havoc ordered the droid.

It moved out of the doorway without a word.

"Now," He said once it had left, "Listen up. I'm only going to say this once. This is not like your standard training, this is _a free for all_." The men were confused and a murmur came from the group.

"You're going to get up there and you're gonna run like hell. Droids will be everywhere. Your only mission, is to get to the safe haven. If you get there the droids can't hurt you, and you will have completed the first level. In addition, I'm throwing in a prize." The group looked up at him expectantly.

"Whoever gets to the safe haven first will automatically become the squad leader," he said.

There was silence, and the cadets started looking to their neighbor. Flash looked over at one trooper who met his gaze, staring daggers at him. The competition was on.

Suddenly Havoc spoke up again.

"But, there's a catch," he said. "I'm not telling you where the safe haven is."

A cadet next to Flash groaned silently as if to say, "big help you are," but being sure to not let the Arc Trooper to hear.

"And lastly, a warning. Getting shot by a blaster out there isn't going to be the same as it was in basic training. They've replicated almost the exact sensation of being shot out in the field. You won't suffer any long-term effects, but you'll really end up in a world of pain. And if you get shot enough times at once, the shock _can_ kill you. Our droids out there are programmed not to shoot a man once he's already down but…" Havoc stopped. His head fell, and the group could tell something was wrong.

"Droids make errors," he finished somberly.

The group was humbled, vaguely understanding the history behind that statement.

Havoc quickly recovered. "Alright load up!" he ordered. Everyone got in formation on the circular pad, their weapons ready.

Havoc left them, the door sealing shut behind him. Suddenly Flash became extremely nervous, and had an irrational urge to call out to the Arc.

He shifted in his position, and gripped his blaster. He knew he had done this sort of drill many times before, but he couldn't shake his anxiety. It felt just like when Flash went into his first training arena all those years ago. But this time it was different. Now he didn't have a squad to back him up. Before he was ready for it the pad started to rise toward the ceiling. A circular opening appeared in it, and the pad traveled through it without stopping. The door sealed shut below them and it became very dark inside.

"You ready boys?" Flash asked as the pad rose.

"Don't get in my way," a voice snarled. Flash recognized him as the clone who had stared daggers at him earlier.

Flash gripped his DC-15 hard. He was going to be the leader. He knew it. Suddenly a circular door separated above them, letting blinding light enter. They were just a few feet away now.

Flash took a deep breath, and got ready to run. Finally the pad came to a stop and the group found themselves in an arena full of walls, panels and…

The place exploded with fire.

 _Droids!_

Flash didn't even look to see where the fire was coming from, he just ran. He ran faster than he had ever ran to the nearest cover. He slid behind it just as a blaster bolt shot over his head. He gritted his teeth and chanced a look out. Everyone had made it past the pad and were now either at panels, or running towards them. Flash didn't pay much attention and looked to where the hostile fire was coming from. To Flash's horror it was coming from ALL DIRECTIONS! The droids were everywhere, closing in fast. He ducked behind the panel again just in time as another blaster bolt shot past him.

 _Get yourself together Flash!_ He yelled in his head. _Time to blast some droids!_

He popped up behind the panel and shot a super battle droid repeatedly until it was brought down. The adrenaline pumped in Flash's veins as he lept over the panel and dashed for the next one, blasting droids along the way. He skidded to a halt behind cover just as he heard a scream from somewhere in the arena, the first unlucky trooper to meet the end of his chances of becoming leader.

Flash panted and looked around, trying to find that safe haven. _It's the only way out of here._ He thought.

Suddenly a blaster bolt hit an inch from his foot and he looked around to see a group of supers hastily closing in on him from the left. Flash snarled and grabbed a grenade from his belt, then he somersaulted to his left and threw it at the clankers before they could get a clear aim. It exploded and the droids were brought to their knees.

Flash's head swiveled around frantically as he tried to get his barrings. He couldn't see anyone from the squad, and he didn't care. He was more worried about all the droids that were _everywhere_ now.

He frantically looked around, trying to find anything that looked like a "safe haven" but there seemed to be nothing of the sort in this place. Another blaster bolt hit next to him and he lept over the panel, knowing he couldn't stay there. He ran straight for a large, fat, pillar-like structure that stretched high into the sky. He got to it and his back leaned against it, temporarily providing refuge from the droids behind him. He clutched his blaster to his chest and looked around once more, hoping a new angle would disclose something. He saw nothing but pillars and panels. Nothing else. Frustrated, he chanced a look around the corner, with which he was greeted with a blaster bolt that nearly fried his brain.

He tried looking around the area one last time before he would have to move forward again, being steadily sandwiched in between the waves of droids.

 _Where is it?_ _Where is it?!_ He thought desperately.

As he quickly scanned the area, he spotted a hatch in the floor with a faint green glow emanating from it.

 _That has to be it!_ He thought.

The dreadful noise of the droid's marching was getting louder; they were just around the corner.

Flash knew that if he bolted now, they would shoot him in the back. He had to think this through.

He checked his belt to see that he had just one grenade left, and one mine. He looked up at the pillar and wondered if this would be enough to bring it down. He had no idea but he had to try something. He placed a mine at the foot of the pillar and then with his blaster in one hand, and his grenade clutched in the other, he jumped out from behind the pillar, and dived backwards away from the incoming fire, sliding away as he tossed his grenade at the mine.

The instant it made contact with it there was a massive explosion and the pillar fell to the left, crushing most of the droids on that side. There was enough smoke and debris on the other side to provide a temporary distraction, and Flash didn't waste it. He bolted toward the hatch as fast as he could. He was going to be the squad leader! Just a few more feet! Suddenly he noticed a blur of motion to his right and he looked to see another cadet, leaping over panels, racing toward the hatch too. Flash turned his attention back to the target and picked up the speed, adrenaline pumping in his body.

 _Almost there!_ A voice screamed in Flash's head. He was panting hard, his heavy armor making the race that much harder. He chanced a look to his right and saw that he was ahead of the other guy. This was it. He was finally going to-

Suddenly he heard a scream from behind him and looked back to see the cadet on the ground. Flash stopped.

A pack of supers had intercepted the guy from the side, and he was barely holding on. He seemed to be in immense pain, and he reached out to Flash.

"Help!" He screamed desperately. The supers were closing in on him.

 _Why are they still going after him? He's already down!_ Flash thought worriedly.

"Help me!" The cadet screamed again.

Flash looked at the hatch, then at the clone, and made his decision.

He bolted towards the cadet.

The droids were about to fire on the helpless clone again, but Flash got there just in time. He shot a few in the head, giving enough time for him to extend his hand to the clone, but it was a trick. The clone kicked Flash's legs out from under him and took off for himself towards the hatch. It had all been an act! Flash didn't have a second to dwell on this realization, he jumped up onto his feet, and found himself surrounded. They aimed their weapons at him and all fired at once, but at the last possible second Flash ducked, and the droids shot their own soldiers. Most of them collapsed to the ground, and the remaining few droids Flash picked off with ease. He jumped up and started for the hatch again, but suddenly all thought was lost as Flash felt something hit him hard in the back, and he screamed as raw pain took over him. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before, nothing he could have been prepared for.

It seemed to rip through his body, vein by vein, as he collapsed to the ground. The pain didn't end there, in fact it got worse. Flash shook helplessly on the cold floor. He didn't know where he was, or even who he was, he knew only pain. After a minute his brain couldn't take it anymore, and shut down. **  
**

Flash awoke after he felt a sudden jolt, and after that it felt like his body was being regenerated. He felt the pain and aches being driven away as something travelled through his bloodstream. Finally he was able to open his eyes as the last drop of bacta was inserted into him. He saw the sunken face of a very pale medic above him, retracting some sort of handheld device from his chest. He mutely extended his other hand and Flash took it gratefully. His legs were a little wobbly at first and his knees almost buckled beneath him, but the medic helped him steady himself and after that Flash could walk fine. He saw that he was still in the training arena, but there was no fighting going on now. Just maintenance clones cleaning up the mess and medics reviving fallen soldiers.

Suddenly the memories came flooding back to Flash. He had been almost at the safe haven, but he went back to help someone. That someone had tricked him, and then…

He squeezed his eyes shut at the memory of getting shot. Havoc was right, it was much worse than basic training. Then he opened them and felt his anger growing. _It never would've happened if it weren't for that damn traitor!_ He thought furiously. He wanted nothing more than to punch that clone's face in.

"You are to report to the briefing room as soon as possible," the medic said weakly.

Flash turned his attention back to the man. He could never understand why medical officers looked so _unhealthy_ all the time.

He asked him where the briefing room was and he gave him directions. Flash met up with two cadets in his group along the way and together they arrived at their destination, where Havoc was behind a holotable with someone else by his side. Everyone else was already there, and Flash quickly joined the group.

Havoc waited a moment before he spoke up.

"Congratulations. You have all completed level 1," he said, not sounding at all impressed. "But that's no accomplishment. The _real_ accomplishment lies here with this man," he said, indicating the cadet by his side. With a jolt of anger Flash recognized him as the clone that had stared daggers at him, and the one who had tricked him back in the battle.

"He got to the safe haven first, which makes him your leader," Havoc said. "I expect you all to treat him with the utmost respect. When he's giving you an order, I'm giving you an order. Understood?"

"Sir yes sir!" The squad responded.

Havoc turned back to the man and placed an insignia with the republic symbol on his chest.

"Congratulations. You are now the official squad leader,"

The men applauded and the clone smiled triumphantly. Flash glared at him, trying to convey as much hatred into his gaze as he could. The guy met his gaze for but a moment, but there was enough smugness there to make Flash want to beat the living sh*t out of him right then and there. But he had to play his cards right or else he'd be kicked out of Arc Trooper training. But Flash knew one thing, he'd get back at him.

The clone stepped down and the rest of the men congratulated him and patted him on the back.

Flash faced him.

"Congratulations. _Commander,_ " Flash said with a fake smile.

His new leader smiled back and responded with,

"Thank you. _Trooper_."

Havoc spoke up. "Alright everyone get some rest. The next one won't be so easy."

Then the squad leader walked off, and the rest followed him back to the barracks.


End file.
